Spirituality(posted: April 2026) Spirituality CommitteeCommittee Members: Deacon John Girolami Chair Carolyn Boerboom Deacon Gord Jenkinson Patrick Nzabo Mandate: The ONRC Spirituality committee continues to offer help to all members in Ontario to develop their Catholic faith. In particular we offer support in developing the Vincentian Spirituality for all members. We offer one on one support with conferences and councils if they have questions about Vincentian Spirituality. We are available to the conferences to attend meetings and help them develop a spirituality plan Activity during 2025: The Spirituality committee met regularly by electronic means and completed the following activities for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2025. A spirituality column is made available each month on the Ontario Regional website. This is often used by conferences for their own spiritual reflection. A spirituality advisors handbook is available in hard copy and online. New spiritual advisors are encouraged to use this manual as a guide. We also encourage the celebration of the feast days of our patron saints who include St Vincent de Paul, Blessed Frederic Ozanam and others. We encourage marking the World Day of the Poor in November each year in parishes across the province. We provide spiritual support for the ONRC in particular. Each year we run an online spirituality workshop during Lent. This year an outside speaker was brought in. The theme was “Jesus, who do you say he is?” We also often make presentations at the Ontario regional meetings. At our last fall regional meeting we presented on what it means to be a saint and looked at the life of St Giorgio Frassati and other Blesseds in the Church. We also promote keeping current with latest teachings from the Church in particular new encyclicals and teaching from Pope Leo XIV. These are usually done by postings to the SSVP Website. We offer to help councils and conferences in developing a program to enrich the spirituality of members. In particular we want Vincentian Spirituality practiced by all members. We remind everyone that we must serve the poor with humility and gentleness. We bring Christ to those in need and we see Christ in them. Focus of activity for 2026: We would like to visit councils and conferences so that members have a better understanding of Vincentian Spirituality as well as ways to experience this in their daily lives. We would also like to develop a quarterly newsletter that shares our faith and our spirituality. Deacon John Girolami Chair Spirituality Committee of SSVP Ontario Regional Council & Board Liaison to this Committee Committee ReportsSpirituality
Chair: John Girolami |
